Fatal Flaw AnalysisThe problems of the 787 remind me of an ole professor who taught me that if you have a challenge before you of 100 problems, and you can solve 99 of them - in time, but one you are not sure of, focus on the one you are not sure of - since if you cannot fix that - that is the fatal flaw. You ability to fix 99% of the problems is worthless.

I do sincerely hope the 787 is flying soon and safely.

As for the several random negative marks - it happens from stalkers, lurkers, and 7 year olds unsupervised with a mouse. (One of my kids taught the last lesson - and to her dad of all things!)

The same thing with one of my posts, Ricky. All I was doing was pointing out a funny google translation, and I got pinged. We all need a laugh, and I thought I was helping. Or maybe it was the typo I made - but if that was the case, most people on here would get pinged every day!

Putting the batteries under full load, including powering up all the equipment, both inflight and ground, will likely be the only way to see if they can duplicate the failure. As I mentioned in a previious post, the elephant is the room is growing progressively larger. I expect the general grounding to last at least a few more weeks and possibly months until they can diagnose a definitive cause and create a fix. Yes, it does seem like saving 40 kg (about 84 pounds)is a steep price to pay when you compare the alternative Ni-Cad technology. That's only 2 pieces of checked luggage on a plane that will hold hundreds of bags or tons of cargo below the passenger deck.

I think one of the problems here Rolly is that there were too many engineers on the project. This is another case of a camel produced by a committee out to design a horse.

What needs to happen is the monitor and electronics be taken out of the box. The cells need to be spaced so they can't thermally affect the neighbors, and the burst discs must have a containment structure that will not allow hot electrolyte to escape. More sophiscated charge/discharge management must be included to handle worst case events.

That's one of the best answers I've read here, Ric. Mainly because it's exactly what I think is the best answer. They need to keep the weight effectively the same, and the only downside will be a bigger space taken up. It can't be too hard to get certification on that.

CNN is stating that the FAA approved Boeing to do flight test on the aircraft for resting the electrical and battery systems but they must only have essential personal on board and stay out of populated areas. Now comes the real test of what really happen and how to truly fix it.

Yes, interesting details, but also a gook laugh at the translation from Norwegian - such as this line: 'The aircraft manufacturer points out, however, that this is a new fly that far from having any more children diseases than is usual.'

The NTSB just made a press conf on it, don't look good for them. Why is Boeing not talking more. This is not a " No News Is Good News" case to me. I guess as long as ther stock price holds it all good. $76.78 as of now.

We'll I didn't hear the press conference but from what I got from sources is that the ntsb centered in on one of the eight cells in the battery. Boeing how ever isn't being tight lipped about this as they said they are going to build a better containment for the battery and seperate the cells and confine them more so that they reduce the thermal runaway issue also they are looking into software updates and adding more heat sensors to the batteries. Also the flight was a success because the FAA told them if they see any alarms temps rising or abnormalities with the batteries they were to land immediately at the closest airport. And from what I see they landed in Everett 3 and a half hours after take off.

Yea i posted a link to the NTSB press conf. I cant help but think a fire in a box is still a fire and not good. I dont see why they cant just put in a new type of battery. And i think the faa would have to tell the pilots to land if ther was anyabnormalities with the batteries with the problems we have seen. Even if you are the main test pilot for Boeing you will put it done fast. Is ther a CCTV in the aft bay that can be seen from the flight deck? Be a good thing i would think.

The problem with a new battery type is weight and also they would have to bigger to produce as much power as the battery they now use. Also that would take time to design a battery that will work with the system. They say it before if you have something working why throw it away. Now don't get me wrong they are having issues with the batteries but it would be cheaper in my mind in the long run to find a fix to the batteries rather then throw them out. Also from what I heard from Boeing I think they said they believe the issue was created by parts that cheap sort of say instead of parts that were meant to be there lol. Give Boeing and the ntsb sometime to find a fix and fix it. Also as far as a camera in either aft or front bay there isn't any but would be a good idea for them. Also a good idea is to put a seperate fire suppression system in the containment box for the batteries to put the fires out if any occur during flight like the engine suppression systems.

An interesting line from " google " ,link on Li-ion Batteries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#Safety , reading in the opening para as ...... " Handheld electronics mostly use LIBs based on lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), which offers high energy density, but have well-known safety concerns, especially when damaged " ...... And at another place under Safety / Transport Restrictions head , .... "The Boeing 787 Dreamliner contains lithium cobalt oxide[121] batteries which are more reactive than newer types of batteries such as LiFePo [122]"..... And this piece of knowledge can not be attributed to last week ! Eh ?

My 5 yr old had a toy car with a better battery than this. WTF is Boeing playing at...? Now I realise that we are all kinda dumbed down these days..but Boeing please untangle your pants..you are a national embarassment.

Gentlemen any new aircraft has its teething problems however unfortunately the smaller the problem the longer it takes to discover. The aircraft is a super airplane like all the Boeing predecessors but sometimes big corporations fail to listen to outsiders, this time maybe they should such as the MIT or other suggestions and explore all possibilities. I would personally do that